Chance the Rapper Announces $2.2 Million in New Funding for Chicago Public Schools

Chance the Rapper held a press conference today at Chicago’s Paul Robeson High School. He was scheduled to “make a major announcement about his efforts to support Chicago Public Schools,” which include his $1 million donation to CPS (announced at a previous press conference from the city’s Westcott Elementary School). In his new speech, Chance revealed that he has raised $2.2 million for CPS since the first press conference. Among those who donated are the Chicago Bulls (who matched Chance’s $1 million), Scooter Braun (manager of Kanye West, Justin Bieber, and others), and Hannibal Buress.

He also announced the New Chance Arts and Literature Fund, which he said “will bring arts programs and materials to schools.” He added that it will “begin investing dollars and material resources into Chicago Public Schools beginning this fall for the 2017-2018 school year.” Chance said that it is a collaboration with the Children’s First Fund and in partnership with Ingenuity.

Taking questions from the press, Chance revealed that he has not spoken with Illinois governor Bruce Rauner since the announcement of his initial $1 million donation. The two had a meeting together at the beginning of March.